Scientific Name : Adenanthera microsperma Teijsm. and Binn.
Common Name : Red Sandalwood
Chinese Name : 海紅豆, 孔雀豆, 相思格
Family : MIMOSACEAE
Local distribution status : Native species
| Origin | Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, Hainan, Taiwan, Yun-nan [Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, Viet-nam]. |
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| Meanings of name | The generic name Adenanthera is derived from the Greek words aden (sticky gland) and anthera (anthers), together alluding to tiny glands on the anthers. The Chinese name '海紅豆' describes its seeds are red-beans-like. |
| The imaginations to Red Sandalwood |
Our ancestors were an aficionado of red beans and used to illustrate their love and longing with red beans to. Rumour has it that a woman lived with her husband in a village of Yue state. One day, her husband was forced to garrison the frontiers and had then never returned home. Because of yearning, she insisted on waiting for her husband under a tree in front of the village and cried until her eyes got bleeding. After the woman died with persistent crying, the tree just astonishingly yielded numerous red beans. Since people believed that the seeds were derived from the woman's tears, and thus named the tree as '相思子' to commemorate this miserable love story. Red beans were common in Wang Wei's poem as a metaphor for expressing his longing. However, the suggested species that 'red beans' in the literature, to whether Red Sandalwood, Abrus precatorius (Rosary pea) or Ormosia hosiei (Hainan Ormosia) it referred, is still controversial. |
| Vitality | The tree is fast-growing and prefers acidic and moist soils. |
| Application | The seeds are always processed into bracelets as emblematic of love. The entire plant is toxic and seldomly taken orally. Instead, the seeds can be grounded into powder for external treatments like expelling dark spots on face, acne and brandy nose. |
| Growing habit | Deciduous tree. |
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| Height | To 20 m. |
| Stems | Bark grey, smooth, slightly peeling off in thin scales. Branchlets puberulent. |
| Leaves | Bipinnately compound alternate, pinnae 3–5 pairs, subopposite, leaflets 4-7 pairs, alternate. Petioles and rachis pubescence. Blade oblong or ovate, broadly obtuse at both ends, puberulent on both sides, light green on back. Petiole shorter, compound rachis reddish brown, surface with longitudinal shallow groove. |
| Flowers | Racemes axillary or panicles terminal, golden-yellow or white. |
| Fruits | Pods narrowly oblong, valves contorted when dehiscent, exposing red and glossy oblate seeds. |
| Flowering period | April to July in Hong Kong. |
| Fruiting period | July to October in Hong Kong. |
Scientific name above is based on Hong Kong Herbarium website: https://www.herbarium.gov.hk/en/hk-plant-database/plant-detail/index.html?pType=species&oID=3017
Scientific names from other databases
― Flora of China : Adenanthera microsperma Teijsmann and Binnendijk
— Plants of the World Online : Adenanthera microsperma Teijsm. and Binn.